Speeches

It is about providing the strongest possible protection, first of all – protection for hundreds of millions of Europeans. And that protection is needed today, not years from now.

We have proven to all our partners both the need, and more importantly, the possibility of providing greater protection of lives. It is simply nonsensical that, in today’s world, production has still not been scaled up to the level that is actually needed to protect people from ballistic terror.

Missiles for Patriots are a priority, and, of course, we understand that the political will of the United States would certainly be enough to make up for the Patriot shortage, but so far, there is not enough of that support. We will keep persuading through all channels.

Please keep helping us protect our people through your political leadership and practical decisions. Please also support our efforts for diplomacy – so that this war ends through negotiations, not through more destruction, which is exactly what Russia wants. Help make sure our air defense – our Patriot systems – never, never run out of the missiles they need. That is what saves lives.

Putin still intends to “vanquish” residential buildings rather than end this war. And this can be countered both through sufficient supplies of anti-ballistic systems and through much faster work to develop Europe’s own anti-ballistic capabilities.

Russia must be placed in a situation where, apart from peace, it has no other option. We very much hope that support from our partners – in particular from the EU – will remain tangible, timely, and courageous.

The EU has an opportunity, and a responsibility, to be a force that brings more stability, more predictability, and basic respect for human life – the kind of life everyone wants for themselves, their children, and their families.

We have already made every proposal to end this war, and Russia refuses every time. Just recently, Russia’s clear desire to continue fighting was voiced again. So there must be as many obstacles as possible to its desire to keep waging war. 

Today is a special day. Emotionally and spiritually very powerful. Sunday. Constitution Day of Ukraine. Exactly thirty years ago, an important pillar of our state’s independence was established. It was when Ukrainians stopped living under the old law, and most importantly, someone else’s law, and fully began to build a new life, their own life, based on new foundations and principles, the foremost of which is Ukraine’s right to be itself.

We continue to bring people back from Russian captivity: today, another 160 service members are home. Almost all of them had been in captivity since 2022. Defenders of Mariupol, Azovstal, all of Donetsk region, and other directions, including Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and Sumy regions. We must bring back everyone – military personnel and civilians – who are still in Russian captivity.